been feeling. She dismissed her friend with a gentle air,
dignified, yet of sufficient haughtiness to let that astute and now
decidedly repentant lady know that never again would she enter the doors
of the Court, or any other of Lady Baltimore's houses; yet she
restrained herself all through so well that, even until the very end
came, her own husband never knew how horribly she suffered through her
disbelief in him.

He thought her heartless. There was no scandal, no public separation.
She said a word or two to him that told him what she had heard, and when
he tried to explain the truths of that last libel that had declared him
unfaithful to her since her marriage, she had silenced him with so cold,
so scornful, so contemptuous a glance and word, that, chilled and
angered in his turn, he had left her.

Twice afterwards he had sought to explain matters, but it was useless.
She would not listen; the treacherous friend, whom she never betrayed,
had done her work well. Lady Baltimore, though she never forgave _her_,
would not forgive her husband either; she would make no formal attempt
at a separation. Before the world she and he lived together, seemingly
on the best terms; at all events on quite as good terms as most of their
acquaintances; yet all the world knew how it was with them. So long as
there are servants, so long will it be impossible to effectually conceal
our most sacred secrets.

Her friends, when the Baltimores went to visit them, made arrangements
to suit them. It was a pity, everybody said, that such complications
should have arisen, and one would not have expected it from Isabel, but
then she seemed so cold, that probably a climax like that did not affect
her as much as it might another. She was so entirely wrapped up in her
boy--some women were like that--a child sufficed them. And as for Lord
Baltimore--Cyril--why----Judgment was divided here; the women taking his
part, the men hers. The latter finding an attraction hardly to be
defined in her pure, calm, rather impenetrable face, that had yet a
smile so lovely that it could warm the seemingly cold face into a
something that was more effective than mere beauty. It was a wonderful
smile, and, in spite of all her troubles, was by no means rare. Lady
Baltimore, they all acknowledged, was a delightful guest and hostess.

As for Lord Baltimore, he--well, he would know how to console himself.
Society, the crudest organization on earth, laughed to itself ab